


On Soulmates and Change

by TheMadThing



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 19:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3949468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMadThing/pseuds/TheMadThing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A soulmate au when Jack and Nine are soulmates but Ten and Rose are, looking at what happens because of that. The timeline is series one, mostly the last five episodes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Do Monsters Make War...

**Author's Note:**

> Dialogue and events are all taken almost directly from the episodes concerned with minor changes.
> 
> Inspired by two posts on Tumblr, one about soulmate names changing if a person changed, (the example used was if someone's soulmate was trans and they decided they wanted to be called a name from the gender they identify with), and the other was the thought that a massive event could potentially change who your soulmate would be.

Most of the higher species don’t have soulmarks and Time Lords are no exception. However, war changes everything it touches and the Last Great Time War did so more than most. Thus it was that the Last of the Time Lords walked away from the War with a new face and two names on his wrists, one name silver and one name gold. The silver name remained a constant, the one person in the universe destined to be his best friend, despite his scars, both mental and physical, but the gold changed constantly, different whenever and wherever he was. He never tried to look for his soulmates but fate always wins and he found his silver name anyway, on Earth, in London, 2005. Like all humans Rose Tyler had two metrometers on her wrist that told her how far away her soulmates, platonic and romantic, were. Of course, not everyone had two for whatever reason, but two was most common. Unlike most people her romantic soulmate hadn’t been born yet, always showing the line that indicated an error. Her platonic soulmate one jumped around from incredible distances to mere miles away from her so she had always assumed that it was broken, though that was unheard of outside Cardiff. Because of that she didn’t realise that the strange man whose life she’d saved was her soulmate until it was too late and he’d gone again in his box. And then he came back and she went with him unhesitatingly, because who wouldn’t follow their soulmate anywhere. Then came the Dalek, and there she was, stopping him destroying it, ending the War finally, and she didn’t understand, wouldn’t move, but she was right, she was always right, his clever, brave Rose who always knew just how to help him put himself back together. She was always right.

                Meeting Jack was a surprise. His gold name had changed so much in the years since the War that he’d never imagined it could be a single person, thought it must be a glitch. He was too distracted by the nanogenes to realise until it was all over but then later, in the TARDIS he was dancing with Jack and as he took his hands he felt a warmth flooding his wrist and heart and he knew, he knew what it meant, and by Jack's face he felt it too. Slowly Jack removed the vortex manipulator to reveal a circle on his wrist that was glowing with a soft golden light. As the Doctor ran his fingers over it gently the glow faded, leaving a faint blush of pink behind. Jack took the Doctor’s left wrist in his hand, and the Doctor took off his watch that he wore over it to show Jack his name, written in Jack's handwriting in gold.

                “I’ve never seen one like that before,” the Doctor said, nodding to Jack’s wrist.

                “Unique to the Boeshane Peninsula,” Jack explained, “We got a lot of genetic quirks popping up there.”

                “Like?” Jack raised an eyebrow suggestively. The Doctor snorted and rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. Rose coughed.

                “Still here you know.” The Doctor laughed and turned back to the console.

                “Next stop, Cardiff!” he announced.

                “What’s in Cardiff?” Jack asked.

                “Rift in space/time. TARDIS needs a refuel and that’s the nearest good spot for it. Shouldn’t take more than a day or too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_Three hours later..._

There was a knock on the TARDIS door. Jack opened it.

                “Who the hell are you?” There was a muffled reply. “Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever you’re selling, we’re not buying.” Mickey pushed his way past Jack into the TARDIS. He looked around for Rose and held out his arms too her.

                “You look fantastic!” She hugged him back.

                “Aw sweet,” said Jack, “Look at those two, how come I never get any of that?”

                “Buy me a drink first,” the Doctor told him.

                “Such hard work.”

                “But worth it.”

                “True,” Jack thought for a moment then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled something down on it, “When we’re done here let’s leave these two for a bit and go to these coordinates.”

                “Why, what’s there?” the Doctor asked, curious.

                “You’ll see,” Jack winked. The Doctor raised an eyebrow but didn’t push it.

                It turned out that it was a bar in the Andromeda galaxy which served incredible drinks and extremely good food too. They had a very good evening and by the time they returned to Earth for Rose Jack's soulmark was the deep red of love without reserve, and though it was less obvious the Doctor felt the same way. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

                “It’s been fun but I guess this is goodbye,” Jack said.

                “Don't talk like that! The Doctor's gonna do it, you just... watch him,” Rose said, trying to convince herself more than him, he thought.

                “Doctor, you’re worth fighting for, though I wish I’d never met you. I was much better off as a coward.” Jack hugged Rose tightly, then took the Doctor’s face in his hands and kissed him, knowing this could well be the last time he got to do so. “See you in Hell.”

 

EXTERMINATE

 

Jack woke with a gasp as life flooded back into him and the Daleks disintegrated. He stared at the wall in front of him for a second then pulled himself to his feet, slightly unsteady from being violently ripped from death and searched for a functioning screen. He finally found one and looked to see what had happened. The current CCTV showed only the fading echo of the TARDIS leaving but the past footage was more revealing. He watched Rose as the Bad Wolf destroying the Daleks with glee, but then his breath was stolen as the Doctor stepped forwards and kissed her. Pain ripped through him, physical and emotional, a mustard yellow streak tearing through his soulmark as his heart broke inside of him. In the midst of his tears of agony he barely saw the deep red turn to the black of a dead soulmate, and in that moment he didn’t care. His vision began to flicker from the pain and slowly he let unconsciousness take hold of him and he collapsed back onto the floor among the dust and debris and corpses.


	2. ...Or Does War Make Monsters?

The Doctor moved on quickly. Of course he did, he was a different person entirely, as demonstrated by the new gold name on his wrist, Rose Tyler. Jack's name might never have been written anywhere on his body at all, replaced by the silver name, Donna Noble. He never told Rose that Jack was alive, was never brave enough to have to explain why he left him behind. Then Rose was gone, and he was alone and for the first time he felt some of what Jack had. When he met Jack again, at the end of the universe, he lied to him, told him he was wrong, that he couldn’t help it, that it was Jack's fault for being immortal, and that was why he could barely look him in the eye. Jack didn’t buy it but he left it alone, the lie telling him all he needed to know.  
Jack never had a serious relationship after the Doctor. He couldn’t bear it, couldn’t bear the idea of someone else’s arms around him for anything more than casual sex, or letting it ever mean anything. His soulmark was always covered by the vortex manipulator, his pain hidden from a world that couldn’t help him. For a while he was suicidal, depressed, until it became apparent that death was not an option. He lied to the Doctor too, when he finally found him again, told him his deaths were accidents, when most were anything but. He made himself busy re-forming Torchwood Three, carefully severing all ties to Torchwood One in London, forming an organisation independent in all but name. It kept him sane, kept him from brooding, and eventually gave him something to come back to, if not home to, after the Year That Never Was. And it was Torchwood, in the end, which began to help him heal. Jack had vowed never to get attached again, never let anyone hurt him like the Doctor had but he couldn’t change his fascination with Ianto Jones, a man so devoted to his soulmate he never gave up on her, despite her cyber conversion. A man as broken as Jack after he lost her, but who still carried on doing his job to perfection, never letting the others see the pain he must have felt. So when John Hart invaded his life again Jack made his decision to ask Ianto out and do it properly. A person only ever has one soulmate in their lifetime but while a soulmate is a deep easy love, as natural as breathing, love is not exclusive to soulmates and bonds can be built in time that can heal even a heart as broken as Jack's, or as tired as Ianto’s. And as for the Doctor, maybe one day he could find someone who would live as long as he will and maybe he could be happy, but until then he will wander on across the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much of a happy ending I know, but I struggle with writing developing relationships, an odd thing for a soulmate au writer I know but there you go.


End file.
